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Animatronics wizard Garner Holt, 53, was honored at Disneyland Resort on Saturday for his years of work in theme parks.

Holt received the Buzz Price Thea Award for Lifetime Achievement from the trade group Themed Entertainment Association.

Holt caught the animatronics bug when he was 9 and visited Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. He told TEA attendees that except for a brief stint tending fish in a pet store he never held a job other than running his own company, which he founded at age 16.

“Thirty-seven years, 5,000 individual animatronics figures later, 31 countries, six continents and at every Disney resort worldwide, his childhood dreams have come true in a way few could ever imagine,” said Bob Gurr, creator of Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds and a longtime mentor of Holt.

“Garner, your story is an inspiration,” said Lasseter in a short video. “And your workshop is fantastic. And everything you create there is a work of art, especially what you did for the Radiator Springs Racers. You really brought our characters to life.”

Garner Holt Productions is responsible for making some of the most famous figures seen in theme parks, including Disneyland's 45-foot fire-breathing dragon in its multimedia show “Fantasmic!” He’s also the man who made family dining icon Chuck E. Cheese come to life, singing lead vocals for furry animatronic bands in scores of neighborhood pizzerias.

Holt described his company as going “from a small garage to a really large garage” near his childhood home in San Bernardino. His company’s recent work includes the 2013 renovation of Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knott’s Berry Farm and Knott’s renovation of its Calico Mine Ride, set to reopen early this summer.

– Fielding Buck

On the move

Kevin Bailey, president of the Vans shoe brand in Cypress, now also oversees the Reef and Eagle Creek brands. VF Corp., Vans’ North Carolina parent company, named Bailey president of its Action Sports Americas Coalition.

Robert J. Stevens has been named executive vice president and chief credit officer of Pacific Mercantile Bancorp in Costa Mesa and its wholly owned subsidiary, Pacific Mercantile Bank. He previously served as chief credit officer at Mission Community Bancorp in San Luis Obispo and its subsidiary, Mission Community Bank.

Brian Buehler has been promoted to national sales director at Select Capital Corp., a San Juan Capistrano dealer manager for private offerings and public, non-traded Real Estate Investment Trusts. Buehler was previously first vice president of the company’s Western markets. He works out of Select Capital’s Ladera Ranch office.

New ventures

An affiliate of Blackstone has paid $129 million to buy the Griffin Towers in Santa Ana’s South Coast Metro district from Lincoln Property Co. and Angelo, Gordon & Co. Blackstone owned the towers before selling them to Maguire Properties in 2007 as part of a $3 billion deal for 23 Orange County and Los Angeles buildings. Maguire sold the Santa Ana property three years later for $90 million to Lincoln and Angelo.

Sequent Medical Inc., an Aliso Viejo medical device company, raised $20 million from its existing investors in a round of Series D venture capital financing led by Delphi Ventures. Other participants were Domain Associates, US Venture Partners and Versant Ventures. The funds will be used to broaden Sequent’s product portfolio, carry out clinical studies and introduce its aneurysm treatment to the market.

iTAN Sun Spray Spa, a tanning and spa salon franchise, opened its 30th location and its first Orange County salon in San Clemente at 638 Camino de los Mares, Suite C210.

Milestones

Financial Times, a British newspaper, included four Orange County professionals in its list of FT 400 Top Financial Advisers. The list recognizes the most “elite advisers” in the U.S., based on assets under management, asset growth, years of experience, industry certification, regulatory compliance and online accessibility. The O.C. advisers who made the cut were Anouchka M. Balog of Morgan Stanley in Laguna Niguel; Tom Blanchfield of Merrill Lynch in Newport Beach; Laila Pence of Pence Wealth Management in Newport Beach; and Lawrence E. Smith of UBS Financial Services in Brea.

Overheard

"What changed Andreessen Horowitz’s mind was its belief that Oculus has fixed the latency issue." - Fortune magazine’s Dan Primack explaining how Horowitz waited for Irvine-based Oculus VR to fix a motion sickness issue with its goggles before leading a $75 million financing round prior to Oculus’ $2 billion acquisition by Facebook

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